CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, May 15. DANISH Olympian Lotte Friis steamrolled the fastest heat in the women’s 1500-meter free to win the event at the Arena Grand Prix in Charlotte.

Leading a North Baltimore Aquatic Club top-three sweep of the fastest heat and event, Friis blazed her way to a winning time of 16:07.14 to move to second in the SwimVortex world rankings this year. Only Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia has been faster with a sizzling 15:58.07 at the Spanish National Championships in Palma de Mallorca this year.

Friis’ training partners Becca Mann and Gillian Ryan each also put up some strong in-season times during the first heat. Mann raced her way to 16:08.86 for second in the event, and third in the overall rankings. That’s a personal best for Mann by more than a second. Her previous best had been a 16:10.48 at the Al Soltis Memorial Meet in January 2013 while swimming for Clearwater.

Ryan, meanwhile, snared third tonight in 16:12.64. That swim jumped her to fourth in the world rankings behind Martin Caramignoli’s 16:11.70 from Italian Spring Nationals in Riccione. That’s a lifetime best for Ryan as well, downing her 16:14.67 from the 2012 Junior National Championships.

Lindsay Vrooman clocked a fourth-place 16:29.63 with Chloe Sutton, now representing the newly-renamed SEAL Team that had been IX3 Sports, took fifth in 16:32.07. Cierra Runge, another NBAC swimmer, finished sixth in 16:33.06 with Club Wolverine’s Kelsey Cummings posting a seventh-place 16:45.84.

Vien Nguyen crushed her Vietnamese record with an eighth-place 16:46.42. That swim demolished her previous mark of 17:06.49 in huge news for Vietnamese swimming.

Author: Jason Marsteller

Jason Marsteller is the general manager of digital properties at Swimming World. He joined Swimming World in June 2006 as the managing editor after previous stints as a media relations professional at Indiana University, the University of Tennessee, Southern Utah University and the Utah Summer Games.